


Dark Inside

by InsideTH3fire23



Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:01:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28069740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsideTH3fire23/pseuds/InsideTH3fire23
Summary: They're darker, harder, crueler than she ever thought possible.
Relationships: Elijah Mikaelson/Original Female Character(s), Klaus Mikaelson/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 27





	1. Chapter 1

"May I have this dance, Athena Bennett?"

Athena's gaze flickers around the room, if this is a dream—it is shockingly detailed. 

She wants to take a step back, to ask questions, to reevaluate her position, but beneath the sharp gaze of Klaus Mikaelson that doesn't seem wise. With an expression of displeasure, poorly covered up by a smile that's as strained as it's false, she takes the hand Klaus has offered her and allows him to lead her to the dance floor.

Her fingers curve around his, the touch delicate and hesitant.

He grins as if he has won something. 

"Odd? No threats?" Athena's eyes glowed with amusement. "Are you feeling quite well, Klaus?" 

"I didn't think they were necessary at this stage." He chuckles. "Surely even you must realize by now that between the Salvatores, the doppleganger, the dead witches and even your own cousin Bonnie, you have more enemies than allies."

That answer was surprisingly helpful in establishing where Athena stood in this world. 

She rolled the thought in her head. "It must please you very much how many people are out for my blood."

"It's not like they have any hope of spilling any of it," Klaus said slowly. "I've always thought they all have underestimated you. Athena, the fragile, docile witch. So blind to what you really are."

"And you think you know what I really am?"

Klaus blinks, dark irises brightening in a brief show of surprise. It's uncharacteristic of him to show emotions so clearly, but Athena has really caught him off guard. He parts his lips, slips his tongue between them, and shakes his head. "Oh, you understand how to play games, Athena." 

He twirls her around and pulls her body flush against his. "You could sidestep me and Elijah both. Twice. Before breakfast."

A shiver tingled up her spine but she did her part in repressing it. 

"So clever. Always so clever," said Klaus.

The air grows cold.

Tension rising a tenfold. He squeezes her waist, it is affectionate and for a moment her mind flips and considers it sweet. Before her rational thought arises up and tells her better.

"I don't know what you mean," Athena says airily. 

He ventured closer. 

Athena finds herself hesitant to move; every nerve in her body is screaming warning, because Klaus looks sinister, both a smirk and a glare playing across his features, a twinkle to his eyes that hints as much of intrigue as it does of calculation

"I'm not sure I believe that, love." Klaus's voice was reminiscent of a serpent—soothing and hypnotic and terrifying, all at once. 

Athena's eyes dart around and it's odd how many people are hyper focused on them. Almost every member of the show invited to attend the Mikaelson ball is watching her, but it's the eyes of Elijah that catch her attention.

There is something particular in them. 

It's confusing, being put in a world mid thought with no prior warning. 

But Athena has always been able to maneuver herself out of dangerous situations. 

"Thank you for the dance," she twists herself out of his grip, feels the burn of his eyes on her back as she slips away to the Mikaelson garden. 

* * *

She takes a deep breath. 

Can feel her lungs expand with oxygen, can feel the earth around her. It's as real as everyday of Athena's life. 

Anxiety crawls up her spine. 

She was beginning to suspect she was no longer dreaming. When she had stopped dreaming she didn’t know (or when she had started for that matter). 

She had thought it was an odd dream in the beginning. There were fan written stories about girls who entered Vampire Diaries. They were found by Klaus or Damon and they declared that they knew everything and helped them win the day. They were quirky, witty, and often times very beautiful. They had great senses of humor and soon enough someone would fall in love with them. 

In the real Vampire Diaries, those girls would be dead. 

Faceless girls lying head down in the gutter, having been too careless, too loud. 

She wasn’t one of those girls.

She supposed being a "Bennett" gave her powers but she had no idea how to use them, she wasn't psychic, couldn't tell you every detail of the show, and had no great intellect.

It didn't make sense for it to be her. 

"What has you looking so contemplative?" A voice says from beside her, brow risen in curiosity. Athena feels like he is breathing down her neck despite her eyes telling her that is impossible.

"Self- deprecating thoughts, mostly."

Elijah was close now, close enough she could twitch her hand and find his own.

His eyes seemed to cave in on themselves as if someone had painted many layers of watercolor on top of each other until all the layers began to bleed together. She tried to hold his gaze but quickly found she was no match for him. 

"Would you share them with me?"

She doesn't know how to respond. Or, she does, but she isn't sure she can admit that right now. She looked as if she was caught between lines searching for the one he would take willingly. "They aren't worth being shared."

He doesn't push for more conversation but he doesn't leave either. 

"Athena," he says after a long drawn out moment. He wait until she looks at him, meets his eyes. Then his hand cups her face, his thumb lightly brushing against her cheekbone. " _I'm_ glad you accepted my invitation tonight."

Her heartbeat seems to stutter in her chest and air feels like a scarce commodity. 

That...Is the Athena of this world close to Elijah Mikaelson? Are they lovers? Friends? Something in between?

"I—" she stops herself, a blush spreading across her cheeks. 

For a second all she could do was feel the stormy change in the air, and the blood rushing through her body, because Elijah is the definition, the embodiment, of uncanny. And part of Athena would never not be frightened by that.

"You're beautiful." Elijah said with a heavy voice. His eyes moving from the floor up the length of her curved body. His tongue moved across his lips as he met her eyes.

"Flattery will get you nowhere," she says offhandedly, her hands balling into fists at her sides, "Not with me."

At this, Elijah only smiles his maddening half-smile.

"I wouldn't dare to even think so, much less to try," he replies, and there is pride coloring his voice.

He leaned towards her and Athena tensed but refuses to give ground.

Elijah sighed, a sigh that came from deep within him. "You allow me so little."

"I have to keep myself safe," Athena says, and it's more truthful than she meant it to be. 

"Your not in danger with me," he pauses almost as if he is at a loss for words, though some part of Athena knows better. "Why do you insist on fighting me so hard, lovely Athena?" says Elijah tenderly. "Always: even when it's contrary to your own interests."

"Because you-" _you scare me, terrify me even. You could be dangerous and try to destroy me. You could be pretending. You could be nothing more than a false door._

"You know how I feel about you," he adds simply. 

But she doesn't. She just wants to scream and tell him she doesn't remember, that something happened and she can't— she doesn't understand anything. 

Except for what she does understand...

Faked ignorance wasn’t getting her anywhere. It wasn’t getting her killed but it wasn’t making things any safer for her either. If she wanted to have surer footing under her feet she’d have to take a chance, jump across the gorge and pray her legs were stronger than they felt.

So perhaps she should...

"At the toast signifying the end of the night do not drink from the glass given to you and don't let your siblings drink it either."

"Why?"

"You wouldn't believe-"

"Athena I trust you above all else," his voice is a harsh, broken thing, made out of shattered glass.

"Your mother," Athena begins. "She intends to do a ritual that will link you all as one with the blood of the doppelganger and-"

"And kill us." Elijah finishes.

His jaw tightens and resentment thickens inside of him. The vision of his family once more shattering into sharp slices of glass, impossible to pick up all the growing useless pieces. There was pain but no surprise.

His face doesn't show any expression. 

Empty. 

"They will consider you telling me a betrayal."

Athena looks down. "I know."

"It is contrary to your interest for you to tell me this."

"I know, Elijah."

"So then why?"

"Because I care about your suffering." 

His body unwillingly went still at her words- his entire world went still- It takes more willpower than she knew she was even capable of to stand her ground as this nightmare of a man comes closer, and even though he's always been taller than Athena he _looms_ , not stopping until he's close enough that Athena is forced to tilt her chin up to hold his eyes, close enough that Athena's brain is screaming of the danger she's in.

She feels Elijah's power, different from her own, but endless and terrifying.

She feels the years spiraling forward and backwards, unfathomably agelong and sempiternal. She feels a tease of the beginning—abysmal hunger, intolerable cold, blood splashing in a wide arc against deep, white snow in a forest of ancient trees that stretches as far as he can see around him—and the stretch of an eternity there after.

She can see herself there, in Elijah's mind; crashing into his militantly structured and organized life in a flurry of plaid and tangled curls and neuroses, turning everything upside down without meaning to.

To Elijah she is a supernova in total darkness, and every bit as radiant, and Elijah has been utterly lost to her since the moment he laid eyes on her, and he'd do anything to keep her,anything, to his own detriment, to the world's, it doesn't matter, _he doesn't care._

_He's in love with her._

Athena swears her heart almost stops. 

"You should go warn your siblings," Athena says quietly. "Except Finn...he already...Just be careful. I'm sure they're watching and I, I have to go."

"You're leaving?"

Nothing to do but wait and see, that’s all she could do. She could try to run. She could run through unfamiliar streets and alleyways at night without a thought or a plan inside her head. 

"I think I need to."

Elijah looks remorseful, but he doesn't stop her. 

Athena follows the address on her i.d and eventually comes upon an empty home. 

She's as alone as she always was. 

Some things never change. 


	2. Chapter 2

The house was simplistic. 

Ripe in isolation, surrounded by even land, and beyond that woods. She had fallen in love with it the first time she had laid eyes on it. The property was fairly far away from town square and offered a truly content picture, one free of the stresses of closeness and general human attachment.

Athena Bennett sat on the porch for a moment, on the second step, and began going over what information she could find out about herself. 

1\. She was twenty. The same age as she had been. 

2\. She was a Bennett—cousin to Bonnie. 

3\. Elijah Mikaelson was in love with her. 

4\. She had no idea what the hell she would do to get herself out of this situation. (Relying on the assumption there was a way out). 

5\. Her core personality was still the same. (At least she wouldn't have to pretend too much)

She tried to think of a practical way of escaping. 

It wasn't going too well. 

“At least I’m still living.” She said dully to the open air. 

"Contemplating your mortality, love?"

She flinched, jumping to her feet embarrassingly fast. "What are you doing here?"

He cocked his head, looked at her squarely, unrelenting. "To thank you, of course."

She takes a step back but then he's there with a smirk on his lips and amusement in the corners of his blue eyes. "You chose me over them." Klaus murmured. It was jarring to hear those sorts of words from him. A burn, but something sweet, like taking a sip of hot chocolate too soon after being made. 

"Klaus—" she wondered how long it would take to get herself inside. Away from him. 

"I have a proposition for you," his words sounded like silk. Like the forbidden garden of Eden itself topped with the tree of knowledge. "I'm leaving town," he continues. "There is something I must go get. Come with me."

“No.” Athena answers. 

His lips twitched just slightly, a hardening of his jaw and the lines around his eyes, barely noticeable. Dread pooled in her gut. 

“Come now, love,” Klaus starts, seemingly amused. “Your cousin will already see your actions as a betrayal, and you'll love France."

"That isn't-"

"You are all alone, with no one to take care of you."

Athena knew exactly what he was doing. He was attempting to manipulate her. Manipulation made easy by isolation. Make the victim feel alone and they come willingly. 

" **I** take care of me." She bristled. 

"I’m sure you have the ability to look after yourself, but that doesn’t mean you should have to” Klaus stated this calmly, too unconcerned. 

He smiles but there's something empty in it, something absent. 

“Athena,” The monster says softly. “I have plane tickets to France and it would be very rude of you to deny me. This will be good for you.”

"Fuck you," it's out of her mouth like a gunshot. 

She barely has time to cry out, when a hand wraps around her throat. She struggles tries her best to get away, but it's no use. Her vision begins to spot and the last thing she sees before it all fades to black is Klaus Mikaelson standing over her with a grin. 

* * *

Consciousness seeps into Athena's mind slowly as she groggily blinks into the darkness. She groans and her neck burns at the memory of hands around it. 

"Ah, good. You're awake." Klaus's voice sounds overly chipper, and Athena can't exactly make out which direction it's coming from, though it's close. 

"Go to hell," Athena says, horrified, she tries to pull herself up, but her body feels so heavy and sluggish that even the slightest of movements require so much effort. 

“I would not attempt to stand if I were you.” He said slowly. “The drugs I gave you will still be in your system."

“You-” Athena attempted to lunge at him, but couldn’t keep her balance. Tripping over herself she stumbles hard to the ground, landing on her hands and knees. 

"Now, love, let's be mature about this." Klaus responds, amused. Athena wants to claw his eyes out. "I need you to be reasonable."

Her hands dig into the ground below her as she struggles not to cry. 

He gently pulls her off the floor and places her back on the bed, as if she weighs nothing. Maybe like this, she does weigh nothing.

"I had honestly intended to give you a choice in this. But I realized that I couldn't be without you; I need you by my side. Athena," he whispers, his breath cool on her ear.

The amused part of Klaus's expression narrows into something dangerous, just as his eyes do. His lips, though, pull into his own smirk, a few sharp teeth peeking out.

"Don't be so ungrateful."

Rage unfurls in her chest, a bottomless pit of it. 

There’s something comforting in it - familiar. Athena’s used to powerful men with powerful voices who stand with their feet planted like tree trunks; immovable objects, unstoppable forces, with their backs straight, who fancy themselves new-come kings and keep their chins tilted up to balance the pretend-crown caught around their temples. 

"Don't be so fucking desperate."

He moved like lightning rising from his chair, and before Athena knew what was happening, she was being shoved roughly backwards into the wall, a hand wrapped around her throat, holding her in place. She reached up, clawing at his arm, trying to remove the crushing force from her windpipe, but the angle was all wrong and Klaus was so much stronger than her. 

“Your problem, Athena, is that you don’t seem to realize which one of us is in charge.” He pushed her hear back so that he was forced to meet his eyes, and with nothing else to focus on, Athena was made to look at the man’s irises, they weren’t really blue, she realized, but a deep sort of silver with a blue reflect; the colour of lightening. Athena shuddered, jaw clenching and unclenching reflexively. “What’s to be done about that?”

He let go of Athena's throat, and the girl gasped, slumping backwards against the wall, she would likely have slid to the floor if it hadn’t been for Klaus's hand pressing into her chest, steadying her. 

His eyes dropped to her throat for a moment, he looked like he wanted to rip into her. 

“I’m sorry.” Athena said, focusing her gaze on the bridge of Klaus's nose. “Thank you."

“And?”

“I will respect your rules.” She felt like a child being chastised, the whole affair was remarkably humiliating.

Klaus released her then, running the tips of his fingers almost delicately over the surface of her cheek. “Apology accepted.” He said, and then stepped back. “I'll be back with lunch," and then he left. The lock clicking behind him. 

Athena slumped once he had gone, back sliding down the wall, tucking her knees up to her chest as he tried to slow the jack-hammer beating of her heart. 

This was not a fucking game. 

And if she wanted to survive she needed to become something interesting and yet not fascinating. She needed to be needed. 

She needed to be smart. 

Athena closed her eyes and began to think. 

* * *

She sulks the entire ride to the airport. She sulks when they park in the parking garage. She sulks walking inside by his side, and even while waiting in line. 

Athena continued to sulk as they boarded their flight, and Klaus allowed her to grieve. 

A stewardess passed by, asked if she was okay. She didn't have the chance to answer for herself, not that she would have.

"We're flying to her mother's funeral." Klaus tells her, stroking Athena's back. "She's very upset." 

He thinks he's funny, using the mother's funeral thing when he's trying to ensure his own mother's funeral. She wants to hit him. 

The stewardess looks at her with so much pity. She offers her sincerest apologies and then she is off doing her job. 

Athena sniffs pathetically. 

"There, there." Klaus purrs. "In no time at all, we'll be sipping espresso together in a European cafe, an this will all be behind us." 

"Until you start a body count in Europe." Athena answers. 

"Or until you do." Klaus says. 

She fantasizes that maybe the plane will crash and she won't survive. 


End file.
